Hollow Knight playtester: Silksong isn’t stuck in development hell

On June 18th, Graig, the leading playtester for one of the most anticipated games in recent years, commented on Discord about its seemingly dormant status by claiming that he knew that “they [Team Cherry] are not in dev hell.” In a later message, he also noted that developers set internal deadlines, miss them regularly, and not announce it to the public- implying that the same was happening to Team Cherry.

With a penchant for trolling, Graig’s reputation isn’t the best, but his insider knowhow is all that Hollow Knight fans have to cope with the delayed release of Silksong. The wait has entered its fifth year, and yet Team Cherry has continued to mostly keep to itself. In another comment two days later, Graig acknowledged the anxiety of the fans by sympathizing with them and saying that the studio could be doing a better job with its communications, though he did so after having his earlier statements be made light of on the Silksong subreddit. Regardless of his accuracy (or lack thereof), it is worth recognizing that Graig is not part of the actual development team behind Silksong, and as such, should not be held to the same standards or scrutiny as the rest of Team Cherry. And as for the studio itself, Graig’s words on internal deadlines may serve as a reminder to fans to treat developers with understanding and patience, for development is no easy task.

2019 was the year that Silksong was announced, but it was also the year that Nintendo provided Metroid fans with a mid-project update on Metroid Prime 4: that development would be restarting under the watchful eye of Retro Studios. Some might feel inclined to ask why, after so many years, such a development update has not been released for Silksong, but Team Cherry, as an indie studio, must have its own M.O and way of dealing with setbacks, and we very well may get an update in the near future. Fans have every reason to be frustrated and dissatisfied, and Team Cherry could be doing more to soothe the devoted players who appreciate their work so much, but if Graig’s words hold any merit, Silksong is still alive and well- fighting its way through a boss rush against the demons of development. Perhaps its fitting for a game that will have soul-crushing difficulty to have its journey to completion be a challenge of its own, and hopefully, the payoff will be better because of it.

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